Nature made me a freak. Man made me a weapon. And God made it last too long.

Logan the R rated superhero we all have been waiting for. After the rave reviews from Berlin film festival this film has captivated me. Hugh Jackman has been a loyal servant to the X-Men franchise giving 16 years of his career to Wolverine. In all honesty his spin off films aren’t that memorable, but the man behind Logan is why we pay for the ticket. So what is Logan about? In the not-too-distant future, the ageing Logan/Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is eking out a meagre existence in the Mexico desert whilst caring for the elderly Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart). However he then comes across mysterious young girl Laura Kinney/X-23 (Dafnee Keen), who possesses astonishing and dangerous powers. But Logan and Xavier must protect the child from the deadly Donald Pierce (Boyd Holbrook), leader of the marauding cyborgs known as the Reavers.

Logan is probably one of the better comic book movies to have come out for sometime! It is nothing but an emotional roller-coaster of a ride. James Mangold really knocks it out of the park, the tone of the film is set in less than 2 minutes. It’s gritty, raw and a powerhouse of a film. Did I mention I adore Logan? The plot itself is simple yet effective, it’s very well paced and never drags or lags. The action sequences are bloody, violent and fast. All the car chases reminded me of Mad Max: Fury Road, but damn it work so well. The green-screen when the chases happened were rather poor but that is a minor complaint. Logan can be a very serious film at times but the comedic elements are truly hilarious. Patrick Stewart does dish out a lot of laughs. My only quarrel is that they swear too much, in the aspect that it isn’t organic. Personally I love swearing but Mangold seemed to just throw f-bombs for no reason whatsoever.

Hugh Jackman’s swansong as Logan was nothing but award worthy. I wish they would have stalled Logan until award season. This was his best performance since The Prestige IMO, this was the Logan that Jackman should of been playing from the beginning. He is an emotional powerhouse here, he truly gives his all to the role. If Jackman deserves award recognition, Sir Patrick Stewart is also in the same wagon. He really works well with Jackman and gives a stellar performance. Dafne Keen gives a great debut performance. She is as bad-ass as Hit-Girl in Kick-Ass, but the dramatic element really pushes her stature in Logan. She barely speaks but her facial expressions and body language syncs the role so well. Logan is truly a great ride and potentially one of the better comic book movies. I haven’t enjoyed a comic book movie this much since Winter Soldier. Truly Logan is cinematic gold!

Bryan Singer brought us one of the better comic book movies with X-Men: Days of Future Past, truly how do you follow it up? Well bring the ultimate mutant into the fold obviously! Bryan Singer has taken us to 1983 now with the introduction of a few familiar faces but younger. There has been a lot of criticisms about the look of Apocalypse and the initial first trailer, it didn’t seem that good. It has divided film-goers all ready, but will it be better than Civil War or BvS? Well we shall find out. So what is X-Men: Apocalypse about? It’s ten years since the events of X-Men: Days of Future Past and the world faces an even greater threat when Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac), the world’s very first mutant, reawakens after thousands of years. Disillusioned at the state of mankind, he assembles a team of powerful mutants, including Magneto (Michael Fassbender), Storm (Alexandra Shipp), Psylocke (Olivia Munn) and Angel (Ben Hardy), to help create a new world order. It’s up to Professor X (James McAvoy) and Raven (Jennifer Lawrence), as well as their team of young X-Men, to stop Apocalypse and save the world from destruction.

So Apocalypse is a hot mess of entertainment! The opening sequence was just terrible and dull, the whole tomb scene was like a weird Indiana Jones homage. It only becomes interesting when we get to Scott Summers and how he ends up with Xavier. The build up is interesting then the ending just runs so flat it was upsetting. Bryan Singer seems to have under-served a lot of the characters, a lack of development and the flow of the film was flat. It does make a good popcorn movie mind! What Singer executed well was the whole young generation of X-Men. We get to the school see the cast, watch them develop and learn it was great. I personally could watch a whole movie of them just growing up! The whole assembly of the the four horseman seemed pointless. If you understand the Apocalypse ethos he has always had them, but Magneto seemed the only one with any motive. Psylocke is the Captain Phasma of this film, she had no motive and only had about two lines through out. She is one of the better female comic-book heroes. They also don’t really do much in this film, probably Apocalypse could have done more by himself. What X-Men: Apocalypse does well is execute the action sequences. The fight between Angel and Nightcrawler, Quicksilver’s running scenes and to an extent the final battle all very well.

Fassbender and McAvoy can do no wrong in their roles. They do seem to have taken more of a back seat here, especially McAvoy. Fassbender’s journey’s story arch has come full circle I believe here. It’s interesting to have seen the development of the two from First Class to now. Jennifer Lawrence on the other hand seems to not care for the role. Mystique isn’t that focal of a character, but Fox does cash cow the hell out of her. Personally I do hope this will be her last X-Men film. Oscar Isaac as Apocalypse was a waste of talent. Yet again we have a villain with a lack of conviction, sure he is a purist but why? We have more explanations on why he’s all powerful than an actual conviction. The new breed of kids were pretty good, I do like Sophie Turner as Jean Grey. It’s always good to see how she became this super mutant. The nativity of Turner does give her a great edge. Tye Sheridan as Cyclops was pretty good too. I loved his opening sequence, what has irritated me in previous films is how weak he is portrayed. He seemed a lot more credible here and I hope it continues. Even Peters and Kodi Smit-McPhee give great comic relief to the piece. It’s just always good to see Quicksliver and Nightcrawler. What X-Men: Apocalypse does well is execute the action sequences. I will iterate this I didn’t hate this film! But the bad does outweigh the good unfortunately. It had a great premise with some fantastic element. It’s not as bad as X3 or Wolverine Origins, give it a go and make your own opinion!